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Bao (art, North Carolina A&T State U.), retired American professor of England and art Letitia Lane, and Qing Tian (world religious art, Research Academy of Fine Arts, China) begin with a brief biography of the Buddha and an explanation of his teachings. Then they trace the gradual change from Indian Buddhism to the less severe Chinese form using a

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9780773463165

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This interdisciplinary historical-aesthetic study of Chinese Buddhist Art and Architecture has been expressly written to increase the Western World's knowledge of the Chinese people, their history, religious beliefs, and the extensive of archeological art sites, some of which have been declared Cultural Treasures of the World by the united Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and placed under their protection. Much of the information has been based on the writers' many trips around China where they had numerous discussions with Chinese scholars and artists who have contributed to the studied of Chinese Art, and shared their research results with them. For example, since 1996, Dr. Bao came to China every summer to as a visiting scholar to do research on Chinese Art and Culture. During his travels Dr. Bao visited more than 120 Buddhist temples of 21 provinces, over 100 museums and galleries, and attended over 30 national level conferences. he has collected over 600 photos, enough information to fill ten notebooks. This book is also deeply indebted to Dr. Tian, an international well-known scholar of Buddhist art, for his assistance and his profound fund knowledge about Chinese Buddhist Fine Art, Music and Architecture as a director of the Institute of World Religious Art, China' Research Academy of Fine Art, Beijing. (From the Commendatory Preface) Letitia Lane, PhD This book has been organized so that a brief biography of Prince Gautama (later the Buddha), is first presented, followed by an explanation of the Four Noble Beliefs, and the Eightfold Path which a Buddhist must follow to reach the enlightenment, and finally the Nirvana. Then using an historical chronology that tied philosophic and aesthetic ideas to the development of artistic styles and iconographic symbolism, the gradual change is traced from Indian Buddhism to the less severe from of Chinese Buddhism that is an amalgamation with traditional Daoism.....A large number of examples of the Buddhist art, the painting, sculpture and architecture are provided and discussed in detail. There are also a number of colored plates that are used as illustrations as, for instance, the group of large, painted clay statues in the round, combined with huge painted murals on the walls of a cave temple that created a breath-taking, theater-like reality of Buddha and some of his followers.....The many detailed descriptions of architecture include the Pagoda inspired by the Indian Stupa), the stupendous temple caves chiseled out the cliffs (some of which have been newly discovered), and the wooden and masonry temples built within compounds with gardens and lawn between them, their roofs resting on pillars rather than walls so that the walls of the great halls can be easily moved to expand the space; When one contemplates the great age of the Chinese civilization, its dissemination of culture and art throughout the world for several millenniums, the huge land mass of uncounted archeological art sites, and the staggers population of one billion people in the People's Republic of China, one is greatly surprised to find the paucity of scholarly book on Chinese Art compared to the multitude of books on Western and Near Eastern Art. One of several reasons given for the lack of books during much of the twentieth century was the knowledge of the regional aspects of Chinese art was not proportionate to the enormous quantity of art objects of historical and archeological interest that had spread the fame of Chinese Art around the world, the great majority of Chinese art objects preserved in private and public collections are of unknown origin, some from clandestine excavations and chance finds, and others from purposely concealed sources. - (From the Commendatory Preface) Letitia Lane, PhD

"""This interdisciplinary historical-aesthetic study of Chinese Buddhist Art and Architecture has been expressly written to increase the Western World's knowledge of the Chinese people, their history, religious beliefs, and the extensive of archeological art sites, some of which have been declared ""Cultural Treasures of the World"" by the united Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and placed under their protection. Much of the information has been based on the writers' many trips around China where they had numerous discussions with Chinese scholars and artists who have contributed to the studied of Chinese Art, and shared their research results with them. For example, since 1996, Dr. Bao came to China every summer to as a visiting scholar to do research on Chinese Art and Culture. During his travels Dr. Bao visited more than 120 Buddhist temples of 21 provinces, over 100 museums and galleries, and attended over 30 national level conferences. he has collected over 600 photos, enough information to fill ten notebooks. This book is also deeply indebted to Dr. Tian, an international well-known scholar of Buddhist art, for his assistance and his profound fund knowledge about Chinese Buddhist Fine Art, Music and Architecture as a director of the Institute of World Religious Art, China' Research Academy of Fine Art, Beijing."" (From the Commendatory Preface) Letitia Lane, PhD ""This book has been organized so that a brief biography of Prince Gautama (later the Buddha), is first presented, followed by an explanation of the Four Noble Beliefs, and the Eightfold Path which a Buddhist must follow to reach the enlightenment, and finally the Nirvana. Then using an historical chronology that tied philosophic and aesthetic ideas to the development of artistic styles and iconographic symbolism, the gradual change is traced from Indian Buddhism to the less severe from of Chinese Buddhism that is an amalgamation with traditional Daoism.....A large number of examples of the Buddhist art, the painting, sculpture and architecture are provided and discussed in detail. There are also a number of colored plates that are used as illustrations as, for instance, the group of large, painted clay statues in the round, combined with huge painted murals on the walls of a cave temple that created a breath-taking, theater-like reality of Buddha and some of his followers.....The many detailed descriptions of architecture include the Pagoda inspired by the Indian Stupa), the stupendous temple caves chiseled out the cliffs (some of which have been newly discovered), and the wooden and masonry temples built within compounds with gardens and lawn between them, their roofs resting on pillars rather than walls so that the walls of the great halls can be easily moved to expand the space; When one contemplates the great age of the Chinese civilization, its dissemination of culture and art throughout the world for several millenniums, the huge land mass of uncounted archeological art sites, and the staggers population of one billion people in the People's Republic of China, one is greatly surprised to find the paucity of scholarly book on Chinese Art compared to the multitude of books on Western and Near Eastern Art. One of several reasons given for the lack of books during much of the twentieth century was the knowledge of the regional aspects of Chinese art was not proportionate to the enormous quantity of art objects of historical and archeological interest that had spread the fame of Chinese Art around the world, the great majority of Chinese art objects preserved in private and public collections are of unknown origin, some from clandestine excavations and chance finds, and others from purposely concealed sources."" - (From the Commendatory Preface) Letitia Lane, PhD"""

Author Information

Yuheng Bao was born in Beijing, China, graduated from China's Research Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, with an MA in Film Art and Art History, and from Ohio University with a Ph.D. of Comparative Art. He is Associate Professor of Art at North Carolina A&T State University. He has written and published eight books and more than ninety articles on fine arts, comparative arts and cultures, art history, film and theater, art education, TV and mass communication. Qing Tian was born in Tianjin, China, graduated from China's Research Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing with an MA in Music and Religious Arts. He is Senior Researcher, and Dean of the Institute of World Religious Art at China's Research Academy of Fine Arts. He has written and published seven books and more than one hundred articles on fine arts, Buddhist culture and art, Buddhist music, art history, art education, Chinese folk arts and crafts, film and theater. An international well-known scholar, listed in Who's Who of Chinese Famous Scholars and Scientists, he has been invited by many universities as Visiting Professor for many nations. Letitia Lane, a retired Professor of English and Art, did her Masters and Doctorate in Aesthetics and Comparative Literature at University of Texas at Dallas. She taught English as a Second Language overseas at the American Language Center in Lebanon, and at the Dynalectron Aerospace Corporation in the USA. For some years before she retired, she had her own painting studio where she taught class of art, art history and painting. She has written and published many articles, and served as editor for many books. She now resides in Greensboro, North Carolina.

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